ABSTRACT
The potential for organizational conflict is inescapable. Recall typical team formation according to Bruce Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development. Conflict in organizations can exist between individuals in the group, between groups, and between an individual and the group. The causes of organizational conflict can be distilled into three broad areas: different Missions, internal group competition and individual Competition. Many people believe that disagreements and conflicts are the same. Avoidance can exacerbate conflict when the issue or topic is important. Bad news does not get better with time. If an organization has effective monitoring and project management practices in place, the symptoms of organizational conflict will eventually be reported to senior leadership in the form of missed deadlines, unforeseen problems, and delayed results. However, valuable time has been wasted.
